That First Night
by sassenachlove
Summary: This story elaborates on Ramses Emerson and Nefret Forth's first time together, as alluded to in "The Falcon at the Portal" by Elizabeth Peters. As the book series is typically more PG, any encounters of a sexual nature are only implied in the book. I thought it would be fun to explore what might have gone on behind closed doors.


**That First Night**

Ramses had just thrown his cousin Percy out of the room, after having witnessed him attack Nefret. He was furious enough to do real harm to the man, but Nefret clung to him, keeping him from doing something he might regret. He wouldn't regret hurting Percy, truth be told, but for Nefret, he let the man go after knocking him into the wall.

As Percy staggered out, Ramses turned his attention to Nefret, clinging to him with a vise-like grip, her body pressed against him and her face turned into his neck. Slowly, he started disentangling her from himself.

As much as he wished to keep her against him forever, he knew he must not. She didn't...couldn't...know how he felt about her. She was his adopted sister, or had been raised to be so. He had burned for her since he was a child. It had gotten progressively worse over the years, to the point where he had had to spend much of the last couple of years traveling, without the family. He couldn't stay away forever, though. She coursed through his veins as his own life's blood.

He looked at her then, standing a few feet away, shirt torn all down the front from Percy's attack. His blood raged at the sight of it. Percy would live to regret this day. Tensing, he stopped himself from running to her and embracing her. He was afraid if he did, he would never let go.

Nefret looked down at her torn clothes and said, "I should go change. Will you please wait for me?"

"I'll be here." He turned away then and looked out the window, wondering how on earth he would be able to keep himself from taking her right then.

He heard a gasp behind him, and he turned to see her, wide-eyed, mouth open, and breathing fast.

"Ramses? Why didn't you tell me?" He could see tears forming in her eyes. Was she happy?

He had waited for this moment for more years than he cared to admit. Finally, she was seeing him, really seeing him for the first time. "It's too late for me, you know," he said, "I won't demand anything of you, but could you meet me half way?" He held out his hand to her.

She blinked then, and a smile warmed her face as she saw him for the first time as the man she loved. Before she knew it, she was in his arms. He held her face in his hands, then bent down to kiss her, gently at first, and then with intense passion. She clung to him as he ravaged her mouth. She responded in kind and they were breathless with need.

"Ramses..." she whispered against his lips. "I do love you."

Ramses smiled with that rare expression reserved only for moments of true joy. He shone like the sun in that moment, like heaven had opened up and bestowed its grace upon the world.

"Oh, my love. I've loved you since first I saw you," he said, kissing her again softly.

"That long? Ramses, why did you never tell me? All this time we could have..." she said.

"Let's not linger on regrets. We are together now, my love."

She squeezed him tighter, holding him as close as possible, not wanting to break their connection for one moment.

Fatima knocked on the door of their sitting room, asking if they were ready for tea. They looked at each other then, speaking silently with their eyes and smiling together as Nefret said to the closed door, "We won't be down for tea Fatima, we are not hungry. We won't be needing dinner either." She smiled mischievously at him as his eyebrows raised.

"Are you sure, Nefret? Shouldn't we wait until..." he started.

"I'm sure. I've never been more sure of anything, Ramses. I meant it, you know. I do love you." In demonstration, she kissed him again, putting her arms around his neck. He lifted her then with both arms around her waist and walked her towards the bed.

He sat her down on the edge of the bed, gazing lovingly down at her. "My God, Nefret. You are so beautiful." He took off his jacket then and started to unbutton his shirt.

"Nefret, I...I mean..." he stumbled on his words.

"Come here, love. I'll make it all better," she said, smiling at him.

He walked toward her and stood in front of her. She reached up and helped him with the last few buttons of his shirt. He shrugged out of it and she admired his bare chest. She slowly, tentatively, placed her hands on his chest. She had touched him there before, when she had healed his injuries, but this time, it was different. This time, she was touching _him_. His breath came quicker as her hands ran up and down his bronzed skin. He reached down to her and brought her up to stand before him. She looked down at her own shirt, torn from neck to nearly her waist. Her smooth, white skin glowed in the diminishing light of sunset.

"Nefret, my God..." he said, practically choking as he watched her open her tattered shirt and let it fall over her shoulders to the floor. He reached out to touch her shoulder, so milky white and soft. She had a chemise on, one strap broken from the struggle. He moved toward her, placing his lips where his hand had been, kissing her shoulder softly. She reached up and ran her hands through the dark curls at the base of his skull as he kissed her shoulder and her neck, coming up to her earlobe, giving it a gentle tug with his lips.

Shivers ran down her spine at the sensation of his lips on her skin. She exhaled in bliss, feeling his arms wrap around her again. He kept on kissing her skin, bent down to kiss the front of her neck and over to the other shoulder. He brushed the remaining strap of the chemise off of her other shoulder and watched it fall down the side of her arm, exposing her lovely breasts.

He moaned softly at the sight of her. "Nefret..." he said with a pained groan, "you are a goddess."

Nefret reached toward him and started to unbutton his trousers. He startled slightly, looking at her face.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Before we go on, I want to ask you one last time if you're sure. Once we start, I will never be able to stop, my love. Never."

In answer she kissed him and continued unbuttoning his flies. Once undone, she put her hands around him smoothing his trousers off of his body, squeezing his firm backside as they fell to the floor.

"Oh, Ramses..."

Her action emboldened him to finish undressing her as well. She had been wearing her working costume, so she still had her trousers on. She saw what he intended and sat down on the bed to remove her work boots, all the while admiring his lean body, elegant with strength. He knelt in front of her, helping her with her boot laces and gently pulling off her boots. He caressed her calves and ankles in the wake of her boots, admiring the shapely curves of her.

He stood up, then, as she gazed at him appreciatively. He was beautiful. Long and lean and his arousal was extremely apparent. She smiled up at him and he gave her a sheepish grin in return. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him abruptly. She let out a pleasured gasp as he devoured her mouth with his. He reached down and worked at her buttons, freeing her trousers and pushing them off her hips. They pooled to the floor and once unfettered, her chemise followed suit. He put his arms around her, then, grasping her round buttocks as he kissed her once again. They moved in sync as they kissed and caressed each other. Soon, it was apparent that Ramses wouldn't be able to hold back any longer. He reached down, picked her up in his arms, and carried her to the bed. He laid her gently down as he climbed on the bed with her.

She lay there, trembling slightly, as he stretched beside her, caressing her stomach, her breasts, her collarbone, her neck, and then, her lips. She reached for him, pulling him closer and wrapping her arms around his neck. She moved her lips to his ear and whispered softly, "I'm yours, Ramses. Now and forever, I'm yours."

He kissed her then, passionately, rolling over her and pressing himself to her, all along their lengths. She moaned then, at the exquisite feel of him and he groaned in pleasure at the feel of her body against his. He pulled his head back slightly for just a moment and said, "And I am yours, my love. Always."

This would be the first time for both of them, but their bodies knew instinctively what to do. Nefret opened her legs to him as he adjusted his position. He reached down to touch the slippery flesh between her legs. He groaned then, with intense need, and couldn't wait any longer. He pushed inside her slowly, feeling the slight pressure as he took her maidenhead. She whimpered a little, but soon recovered as the pleasure of him inside her overtook any discomfort she might have felt. Then he moved more deliberately, finding the rhythm of their bodies, gauging her pleasure by the soft moans she emitted. They moved as one, voyaging within each other, sharing one flesh and one heart.

"Oh, Raaaammssseeess," Nefret moaned as he took her, nibbling at her breast. "Oh, my love."

He sucked on her nipple for a moment, feeling it pop up, erect, under his tongue. Her sounds made him look up. He saw his beautiful love, eyes closed in utter bliss as he pleasured her. He wished he could watch her like this forever. He was getting increasingly closer to his release. Her body driving him mad with intense, burning need.

"Not...long...now, love. Not long...I can't...wait..." he said, gasping.

"Come to me, love. Come to me, now," she said, her own gasps increasing in intensity. She was close too. His efforts increased and he felt her start to shudder, just a few moments before his own release began. She cried out in a sob of emotional and physical release. He followed with his own exclamation of powerful emotion, trembling above her as he panted in the wake of his efforts.

"Oh, Nefret. My God...Nefret," he said, voice breaking and tears flowing down his cheeks as he laid beside her. She turned to him, tears in her own eyes and a warm smile on her lips as she looked into those dark, fathomless eyes.

"I love you, Ramses. I truly do. I think I always have, you know," she said, placing her hand on his wet cheek.

"Oh darling, I know I have always loved you, deeply, passionately. I just wish we'd done this sooner. I was too scared to..." he began.

"Hush, love. No regrets now, remember? All that matters is that in the here and now, we are together, and it is for all time."

"It is. For me, it has always been so. I want to marry you, Nefret, as soon as possible. We will have to figure out how to tell Mother and Father. I don't even know where to begin," he said, stroking her hip.

"It won't be easy, but we will tell them together. I know they will understand," she said, taking his hand and bringing it to her lips.

They held each other then, touching and caressing each other through the night. In the hours before dawn, they awoke, turned to each other and made love again, learning each other's bodies in the darkness of the room. They spent the remaining hours making love again and again, until finally spent, they drifted off to sleep once more.

Ramses awoke as the sun broke just above the horizon. He looked at her beautiful face, her smooth skin and the long lines of her body. She was his goddess, his queen, and would soon be his wife.

He heard voices down the hall raised in debate - it was his parents' voices, as usual, arguing about some 18th dynasty something or other. That sound reminded him that Nefret was in his bed...with him...and the door wasn't locked. His mother would find a way to barge in if she took a notion to do so, and they weren't wanting to break the news so abruptly. He quickly slid out of bed and softly tiptoed to the door, locking it with a soft click of the key. He hoped his mother hadn't heard it, but she knew he often locked his door when he was doing his experiments. He padded back towards the bed. Nefret was awake and looking at him as he slid back in next to her.

"I was just locking the door. You know Mother," he said.

She giggled. "Indeed I do. If Aunt Amelia walked in on us, it would give her quite a shock, wouldn't it? I can almost see the look on her face."

"Nefret, we need to think about how we're going to tell my parents. I think we should tell them today, as soon as possible. I don't want to spend one more day without you by my side."

They kissed again and as it deepened, their explorations turned into passion. They made love one more time before finally rising to dress for breakfast. They were a little shy with each other as they helped each other dress, but they didn't want to break apart long enough to dress themselves.

"Are you ready, love?" Ramses asked her as he took her hand in his.

"Yes. Let's go," she said, walking with him out of the room and down the stairs to face their future together.


End file.
